Wednesday, December 17, 2008

We always feed the birds, and over the warmer months, we keep the feeders close to the patio so we can watch while we sit outside.

For the winter, we moved the feeder to where we can see it from the kitchen window and back door. I am thrilled with the variety of birds we have visiting us!

We have the hummingbirds in the warm months of course, and they are fascinating to watch. We also saw some gold finches and house finches, which have a pretty orangish colour on the front of the males. I have seen a cardinal as well.

Constants at our feeders are the finches and there are a few varieties. Sometimes my now-bare plum tree is chock full of the little chatterers!

We also have red-shafted woodpeckers, both male and female (as you can see in the photos- the male is the one with the red spots on his cheeks), gray jays, magpies (they are HUGE!), chickadees, and just the other day, feeding on a small bird and not at the feeder was a type of hawk which I think may have been a sharp-shinned hawk, but I haven't been able to positively identify it in our book yet. That is the one it most closely resembles.

There are still great flocks of Canada geese around here; the girls and I saw an astonishing number of them while we were driving the other day.

It really is something to watch and now that I have such a nice camera, I am starting to capture some of the action!